Guidelines

GUIDANCE FOR APPLICANTS AND FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

There is a great shortage of funds to support feminist scholars and activities. This means that the Feminist Review Trust receives a very large number of applications. Unfortunately we have limited funds and can fund only a small proportion of the applications we receive. So, before you apply please note the type of projects we support and please read the guidance on the completion of the application form.

What will the Trust fund?

The Feminist Review Trust will not fund the following types of applications:

Applications from students to support them on courses of any kind. This includes sub-degree, Bachelors, Masters and Doctorates. Nor will we fund doctoral fieldwork. Very, very exceptionally we might contribute up to £500 to assist a student from a poor country.

Applications from academics to fund work which could be funded by more traditional sources of funding. This means that we are very unlikely to fund summer projects for US academics.

Where we do fund academics we will not fund overheads, teaching buy-outs or equivalent.

Applications to continue doctoral studies. Post-docs can be funded from more conventional sources.

Applications from religious groups.

Applications from UK organisations for core funding that has been lost or reduced due to statutory bodies’ spending cuts.

The Feminist Review Trust will fund:

Hard to fund projects. Some types of projects are difficult to fund. Typically these projects have no other obvious sources of funding. This might mean, for example, that traditional academic sources are either not interested in the area or that it is an activist project or that it is too feminist for most conventional funding sources. For example the Trust supported the writing and publication of the history of Rape Crisis in Scotland and the translation and updating sections of ‘Women and Their Bodies’ into Arabic and Hebrew.

Pump priming activities. This means that we will provide a small amount of funding to help start an activity in the hope that it will then be able attract sufficient funding to continue. For example we funded a project in Argentina to strengthen the capacity of organisations promoting women’s rights and a project to provide audio visual equipment for a feminist social centre in Madrid. In each case these projects have hopefully helped to create a sustainable activity.

Interventionist projects which support feminist values. It is often difficult for projects around core feminist concerns such as abortion rights and domestic violence to find funding. For example the Trust has supported Asylum Aid (an independent charity workshop with asylum seekers in the UK) to promote its ‘Charter of Rights’ for Women Seeking Asylum. We supported the 40th Anniversary Campaign of Abortion Rights in the UK, a documentary about abortion in Trinidad and Tobago and a feminist art studio in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Training and development projects: we will fund projects which provide training in relevant areas. For example, the Trust has funded English lessons for sex workers in London; leadership skills training for women in the voluntary sector. and volunteer training as Glasgow Women’s Library.

One off events: we supported Cine25 as part of the celebrations of 25 years of Women’s Studies at the University of York (UK); a seminar for the Lileth Project (a violence against women housing related project), and a workshop on the gender dimensions of Bulgarian Immigration Policy.

Dissemination: we will fund the production and distribution of relevant material. Too often wonderful work has had a more limited impact than it should because it was not well of fully distributed The Trust will fund dissemination. . For example we have supported the production of a booklet on Asian women’s experiences of higher education in the UK and the distribution of publications by the Rights of Women (a non-profit UK group)

Core funding: we realise that many groups struggle to raise core funding. The Trustees are willing to offer core funding to cover staff costs, accommodation etc., except in instances where applicants are seeking core funding to replace funding lost as a result of public sector cuts.

Other projects: if your application does not easily fit into any of the above categories we may still support it. For example, the Trust has funded a project to capture oral histories of women’s experience of the menopause. Contact the Trust to discuss eligibility prior to submitting your application.

If the project includes a research elementThe Trust rarely funds stand-alone research. Where projects include a research element, please describe in your application the steps you have taken to ensure the research will be undertaken in an ethical manner. Please also pay careful attention to the costs.

How much funding is available?The maximum value of any individual award is UK £15,000 (or its equivalent). However, the Trustees rarely give out awards of this amount so when you prepare your application please bear in mind that you may only be offered partial funding. It is therefore helpful if you can identify different sub-elements in your application.

Why do applications fail?Applications fail for a number of reasons:

They fall outside the funding guidelines outlined above

They are poorly written. There are some typical issues:

Poor description of the project proposal. For example not explaining how potential interviewees will be identified

Failure to describe in sufficient depth and details what you want to do. We like to know exactly what we will be funding and why it is important

Failure to have considered the longer term impact of the project. We ask about this on the application form and it is often poorly answered. You do need to think about longer term impact including the number of women likely to be affected.

What are your chances of success?This is, of course hard to answer. Typically we receive applications to many, many times the value of the funds which we have available. That said a significant proportion either fall outside our funding guidelines or are too poorly written to win support. So, a well written and relevant application is likely to be shortlisted.

What is the decision-making process?The decision-making process has a number of stages:

All applications are reviewed internally in the Trust and a short-list is drawn up. If your application is not shortlisted you are likely to be informed about this in advance of the announced decision deadline.

Short-listed applications are then sent for external review. Your nominated referees may then be contacted.

The Trustees, having received all these reports, then consider each application and reach their decisions.

Successful and unsuccessful applicants are notified.

Some applications are asked to provide more information or to modify their applications. If you are asked to do this it indicates that the Trustees are interested in your proposal but it is not a guarantee that you will be funded if you supply the additional information.

If you are successful…If you are successful you will receive two forms and a copy of the Trust logo. The logo is to be displayed on all material associated with our project. The first form is the Acceptance Form. You will be asked to provide a short summary of your proposal for the Trust website, to provide details to enable the transfer of funds and to provide the date by which we can expect your Final Report.

The second form is a template for your Final Report. This can take a number of formats but it must include a careful account of expenditure together with receipts. We would expect to receive copies of relevant publications or other materials, photographs or whatever is appropriate for your particular project.

If you are unsuccessful…You will be notified by the due date.

The Trustees do not give feedback on unsuccessfulapplications. We know that this disappoints some applicants. Given the volume of applications we receive the main reason for rejection is often that we simply don’t have enough funds to support all the projects we would like to.

Can you apply again if you are unsuccessful?You can apply once more but given that you have been rejected once you will need to make some refinements to your proposal. Look again at our guidelines and try to focus your proposal more carefully in line with them. If you are unsuccessful a second time we recommend that you seek funding elsewhere or undertake a major rethink of your proposal.

Can you get more than one award?In practice the Trustees hope that for many awards the initial award will have had some continuing impact such that the project does not need more funding. This applies particularly to training, development and pump priming activities. Interventionist projects and one-off support activities should not need on-going funding. This leaves activist projects which again, we hope will become self-sustaining. There are, of course, always exceptions so you can apply again if you think that you can make a convincing case for another round of funding.

Can I submit more than one application?

No, we will only accept one application from the individual or organisation per round.